The Sages say that there are three who hate their fellows: the woman, the boor, and the child. I would suggest that they allude to the three forms of enmity that the Jewish People suffer, as we have discussed elsewhere. One is that of the gentiles for Israel – that is the woman, as we find the gentiles characterized as a “foreign woman.” The second is that of the ignorant for the scholars, immortalized by Rabbi Akiva’s confession of his former animus for them. The third is the hatred that scholars have for one another, particularly the insincere ones for the sincere ones. They are compared to a child, as per the rabbinic imagery of the student of Torah as a nursing infant.
This may also be one level of meaning in the Mishnaic teaching that jealousy, desire, and honor remove a person from the world. The hatred that the gentiles have for Israel is prompted by jealousy, that is, as noted by the Zohar, jealousy of the singular love that Hashem has for it. The hatred that the ignorant have for the scholars is caused by desire.
Since the ignorant are obsessed with physical delights, they are repulsed by the lifestyle of the scholars, who subsist on a minimal diet. The hatred that the scholars have for one another is generated by their honor-seeking, when one is envious of the greater honor that another receives. This is particularly so regarding the pseudo-scholars, whose pursuit of honor distances it from them. With all this internal hatred, it is no wonder that each group prompts the ill will of the other. As the Sefer Chassidim wrote, the gentiles do not disturb the Jews unless they witness discord amongst them, and the ignorant do not start up with the scholars unless they see them quarrelling.
Thus, we come to our Pasuk. אותו וישנאו אחיו מכל אביהם אהב אותו כי אחיו ויראו. We can read into it the three forms of enmity enumerated above: 1) That of the gentiles: Since Israel’s brethren, i.e., Eisav (as per Malachi 1:2), saw that Hashem has greater affection for Israel, they hated him; 2) That of the ignorant: Since the ignorant saw that Hashem has greater affection for the scholars, they hated them; 3) That of the scholars: Since the scholars saw that their colleagues were more highly regarded, they resented them.
